2014 Review

Starting in August, we achieved 501(c)(3) status, which meant that we could accept donations that donors could confidently take a tax deduction from. This is also an important regulatory step in that donors can be assured that there is some oversight over our activities to ensure that they go to the public benefit indysci is incorporated to meet.

Following the IRS’ declaration, Project Marilyn launched to produce an open-source drug called 9DS. This was crowdfunded using a combination of dollars and bitcoin. Project Marilyn got some sweet media coverage from WIRED, and in 6 weeks of fundraising, obtained $56K and ~11BTC. This is enough to pay for 6 months of lab space and a xenograft experiment with a bit of cushion. Some of this will go towards a new compound in the 9DS family which we’ll call satoshimycin, thanks to the bitcoin donations we’ve recieved.

In November and December, I worked hard to fulfill the donor gifts. Most of the gifts have shipped, but you may not have gotten your gift yet if:

– you’re an international donor (I’m starting to ship those now)
– you ordered a women’s tee shirt (the shirt printers printed slightly wrong numbers for some sizes)
– you donated in bitcoin (not all donors supplied their shipping address, so I’m waiting a bit longer to hear back from those donors).
– your gift was a tie (this was going to take longer than the other gifts, and the target date for this has been February)

Overall, donor fulfillment so far has been a success.

indysci has also relocated to Oakland CA! The bay area is a pretty hot place for biotech startups and the open-source philosophy is well-appreciated here, making it a good match. I’ll be seeking some lab space in the area, and have several promising candidates sized up.

What’s coming in 2015:

After a brief scientific review where our outside advisor Evan Powers looks over the plan. My plan is to start experiments in February. This is the hard part! (And also the fun part) The budget calls for six months of lab work followed by submission to a CRO for xenograft study. Stay tuned to our facebook channel and this blog where there will be updates. And, if you’re a real-time science junkie, I’ll also be working on a way to communicate science updates in real-time, that announcement will be made here and on the FB channel.